The present invention relates to metronomes and more specifically to electronic metronomes which provides a digital readout of beats per minute, an audible tick-tock rhythm and various visual pattern displays corresponding to certain available beats per measure time signatures.
Metronomes are constant companions to the music student and musician. The maintenance of constant tempi through practice and inculcation is known to the youngest student and most accomplished professional.
Conventional metronomes are mechanical devices having timing mechanisms which resemble that of an inverted pendulum clock. That is, an escapement mechanism is controlled by a pendulum arm pivoted at its lower extremity which includes a weight longitudinally movable therealong. The selected position of the metronome weight determines the oscillatory frequency of the pendulum and thus the tempo of the metronome. Such a device is generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,203.
The advent and application of electronic circuitry to the metronome has brought not only significant change to the basic device but also expansion of its capabilities. Metronomes incorporating digital displays of tempo and which produce audible as well as visually perceptible beats are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,131 discloses an electronic metronome capable of providing audibly distinct subdivisions and cross rhythms. No visual indication is provided by the device therein disclosed, however.
Visual outputs are, however, provided in the devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,014,167 and 4,193,257. In the former patent, a metronome is capable of providing audible and visual display of downbeat and medial beat sound or combinations thereof. In the latter patent, upbeat and downbeat visual indications as well as an audible output which provides emphasis of downbeat are provided. A digital readout of the selected tempo is also displayed.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,090,355 and 4,204,400 disclose additional electronic metronomes having distinct downbeat and upbeat displays which vary, for example, by color or duration.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,693 discloses a metronome wherein the beat pattern is intended to duplicate that pattern described by a band or orchestra leader's hand. Thus, the face of the metronome includes four spaced-apart displays arranged in a pattern of the quarter hours of a clock face.
Whereas these metronomes individually provide various features such as digital tempo display and various beat pattern outputs, none teach a device which provides the most desirable characteristics, namely, an authentic tick-tock audible output, a digital display and selectable visual beat patterns coupled with a high accuracy time base. Thus, improvements in the art of electronic metronomes are not only possible but desirable.